The Royal Navy is to resume boarding operations in the northern Gulf, which were suspended after Iran detained 15 British personnel, the government announced today.The defence secretary, Des Browne, said in a Commons written statement that steps had been taken to minimise the risks of a repeat of last month's incident, in which the sailors and marines were held for 13 days. "Pending the results of the inquiries set up to identify any lessons we can learn from this incident, we have taken measures, in line with the findings of the initial reviews of procedures, to ensure the risk to boarding operations is minimised," he said. "This will involve an incremental return to full boarding operations in all areas." Mr Browne also announced that Tony Hall, who is the chief executive of the Royal Opera House and a former director of news and current affairs at the BBC, would lead an inquiry into the media handling of the incident.... http://www.guardian.co.uk

Thousands of lawyers and political activists protested outside Pakistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday, during the latest round in a legal battle between President Pervez Musharraf and a top judge he is trying to sack.Musharraf plunged the country into a judicial crisis on March 9 by suspending Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and ordering a panel of judges to hold an inquiry into misconduct charges against him.Chanting "Go Musharraf go" and burning a photograph of the president, lawyers and activists thronged Chaudhry's car as the small, mustached judge arrived at the court building."This rally is aimed at sending a message to judiciary that it should not take orders from GHQ (army headquarters)," Imran Khan, an opposition leader and a former Pakistan cricket captain, told reporters outside the Supreme Court. "The judiciary should work for the sake of country and not for a military dictator."...http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/04/24/pakistan.judge.reut/index.html?eref=rss_world

Tamil Tiger rebels have launched an air attack on the Sri Lankan military's main base in northern Jaffna peninsula. The rebels said they used two aircraft and insisted Palaly base was hit. The air force said there was one plane and it had stopped it reaching its target. The attack is only the second time the Tamil Tigers have used air power in their long conflict with the military. The military says that elsewhere in the north, six soldiers were killed in an artillery exchange with the rebels. A military statement said the Tigers fired artillery from the Pooneryn area, injuring six soldiers who "later succumbed due to injuries". Palaly military base acts as headquarters for operations against the rebels in the north. It is also the supply base for tens of thousands of soldiers stationed in the region. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6586283.stm

Scientists have expressed concern about the use of autonomous decision-making robots, particularly for military use. As they become more common, these machines could also have negative impacts on areas such as surveillance and elderly care, the roboticists warn. The researchers were speaking ahead of a public debate at the Dana Centre, part of London's Science Museum. Discussions about the future use of robots in society had been largely ill-informed so far, they argued. Autonomous robots are able to make decisions without human intervention. At a simple level, these can include robot vacuum cleaners that "decide" for themselves when to move from room to room or to head back to a base station to recharge. Increasingly, autonomous machines are being used in military applications, too. Samsung, for example, has developed a robotic sentry to guard the border between North and South Korea....http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6583893.stm

Some of the deadliest attacks and air disasters suffered by U.S. troops in Iraq since the war began in March 2003: - April 23, 2007: A suicide car bomb struck a patrol base in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, killing nine U.S. soldiers and wounding 20. - March 5, 2007: Six U.S. soldiers died in Samarra when an improvised explosive device detonated near their unit. - Jan. 20, 2007: Thirteen service members killed in Black Hawk helicopter crash northeast of Baghdad. Five others die and three wounded in militia attack in Shiite Muslim holy city of Karbala and two killed in roadside bombings. - Dec. 1, 2005: Ten Marines on foot patrol killed and 11 wounded by a roadside bomb near Fallujah. - Aug. 3, 2005: Marine amphibious assault vehicle strikes a roadside bomb near the Syrian border, killing 14 Marines. - June 23, 2005: Suicide car bomber slams into convoy in Fallujah, killing five Marines and a sailor. ...http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6581925,00.html

man facing eviction from a luxury apartment complex shot and killed the manager then killed himself after writing an e-mail to friends saying he had died, police said. At least two other people at the apartment complex were injured in the incident. The gunman first shot a neighbor through his apartment door, then reloaded his revolver and stormed the complex office where he shot the manager and pistol-whipped a man trying to serve the eviction notice, police said. Frantic residents called the office to warn workers that a gunman was on his way to them. The manager told co-workers to get out and police credited her with saving lives before she was killed."I don't know if she had time to get out," said Houston police Capt. Dwayne Ready....http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/23/apartment.shooting.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us